A crack caused by Thursday's big aftershock appears in the ground near a shelter for the March 11 tsunami survivors in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/Yomiuri Shimbun, Hiroshi Adachi)

(Newser)
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Thursday's 7.1-magnitude aftershock killed at least two people in Japan and injured dozens more as it shook Japan's battered northeast but the Fukushima nuclear plant was spared, reports AP. The aftershock knocked out power at three other nuclear plants, but backup systems kicked in, notes the New York Times. The plants had been shut down after last month's quake, but they still need power to keep nuclear fuel cool.

Workers at the Fukushima plant were safe, reports the BBC, and automated operations to get the plant under control were continuing. The aftershock, the strongest since the March 11 quake, had its epicenter in roughly the same location and shook buildings as far away as Tokyo. "I was almost as scared as much as last time," said an elderly woman who has lived in a shelter since the quake and tsunami last month. "Something has changed," she said. "The world feels strange now. Even the way the clouds move isn't right."